Columbus Symphony Orchestra's Folk Roots Concert

Live music unites people from all walks of life, unlike silence, which only unites librarians and people who crack safes. Bond over shared sound waves with today’s GrouponLive deal: for $23, you get one reserved-seating ticket to the Columbus Symphony Orchestra’sFolk Roots concert at the Ohio Theatre (up to a $50.70 value online, including all Ticketmaster fees). Reserved seating is located in the main-floor orchestra section. Choose between the following performances:

Friday, January 20, at 8 p.m.

Saturday, January 21, at 8 p.m.<p>

Doors open at 7 p.m.

Under the direction of esteemed Bulgarian guest conductor Rossen Milanov, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra casts spells of euphoria over onlookers with the rich, traditional folk music of Hungary, France, and Russia. Folk Roots fills the air with orchestral kaleidoscopes and majestic voices that hark back to simpler times of when pianos grew on trees. Revered guest star Anna Polonsky struts her Steinway skills along with her equally honored hubby, Orion Weiss, melding with the orchestra in tag-team harmony. The program of masterpieces includes Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta, which ripples with Hungarian spirit, and Poulenc’s sweeping Concerto in D Minor for Two Pianos, which evokes early Paris. Closing the stirring set list, the virtuoso players partake in Prokofiev’s tricky and enticing Symphony no. 4 in C Major, op. 112, choosing the 1947 revision over 1948’s heavy-metal version. Within the Spanish-Baroque opulence of the Ohio Theatre’s confines, eyes widen and clocks turn backwards as the sublime acoustics ricochet from the 21-foot chandelier and rococo columns into awaiting ears.

Southern Theatre

The oldest surviving theater in central Ohio, the fin de siècle elegance of the Southern Theatre's jewel-box auditorium transports audiences back to the days of vaudeville antics and silver-screen spectacle. Built in 1896 to state-of-the-art standards, the theater's bandshellesque proscenium bucked architectural norms to funnel sound into the seats. Its 204 light bulbs required that the theater generate its own electricity for years, until scientists figured out that nobody needed to worry about that stuff.